National Football League

Should the Browns cut Baker Mayfield?

Updated Mar. 29, 2022 3:31 p.m. ET

The list of NFL quarterback transactions involving players not named Baker Mayfield is ever-growing.

And while Deshaun Watson, Carson Wentz, Matt Ryan, Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota, Trevor Siemian and more have all found stable homes for the foreseeable future, Mayfield's own footing remains on unstable ground.

Mayfield's offseason has essentially been a descent from bad to worse. The mess began with a surprise development that the Browns had begun publicly courting his replacement.

His relationship with the squad reached a breaking point when he requested a trade following the team's reported jab about getting an "adult in the room."

But since Mayfield's request, the Browns have been involved in very few discussions surrounding a trade for the former No. 1 draft pick despite bringing in Jacoby Brissett as a backup for Watson.

So what about Mayfield?

In Nick Wright's eyes, the answer to the Browns' conundrum is ridding their hands of him entirely.

"The Browns did this out of order," Wright said about the team's priorities.

"They acquired Deshaun Watson before they had secured a trade with Baker Mayfield. So the whole league knows that Baker has no future there, so the whole league can sit back and wait rather than pay top-dollar, half-dollar, quarter-dollar. No one's going to make a great trade offer for a player that everyone knows eventually you'll have to cut. The Browns should just go to the last page of the story. They've handled this poorly. The idea that if they didn't get Deshaun, they were going to be able to patch things up with Baker Mayfield was laughable from jump street."

Stefanski hopes to 'resolve' Baker situation soon

Nick Wright tells Eric Mangini and Chris Broussard why he believes the Browns are handling the transition from Baker Mayfield to Deshaun Watson poorly.

Chris Broussard didn't have as much sympathy for Mayfield as Wright did.

"You overstated it," Broussard told Wright.

"The dude is 29-30 as a starter. The dude had three losing seasons in four years. You act like he came in there and was Josh Allen, and all of a sudden, they're legit. I'll give Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski the bulk of the credit for turning this ship around. When Baker was the quarterback, Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. wanted to leave, and now OBJ wants to go back."

"Stefanski and Berry built a top-five defense and run game in the league, and a solid receiving corps led by Amari Cooper. I don't blame the Browns for trying to beat the bushes and seeing if they can make a trade for him. It's not their fault nobody wants him."

The Browns are more than content to wait and see how things play out with Mayfield.

"We're hoping there's closure to it at some point," Stefanski said earlier in the week.

"I think everyone understands the situation, and we're hoping that it is resolved soon. It's a unique situation. We've got to see how it plays out. I think all of us would love an answer yesterday, but that's not the reality of it. We understand that there are questions, and we’re going to continue to have that dialogue. But at the end of the day, we also have our work to do. We have to focus on that."

Mayfield's base salary of $18.9 million is fully guaranteed for 2022 — chief among the reasons why teams aren't knocking at Cleveland's door.

Mayfield undoubtedly wants to find a new home for the coming year, but his lone option as of now is to sit back and play the waiting game.